


Broken Promise

by FableButt



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Events, Chapter 25 - Ryouma, Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest Spoilers, Guilt, Hurt and Loss, M/M, Nohr | Conquest Route, anguish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 09:15:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6798049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FableButt/pseuds/FableButt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The doors were sealed too tight, the Retainers guarding the switches too tough.  Niles is left alone with his husband's corpse and the man who killed him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Promise

**Author's Note:**

> This is a take on what COULD have happened during Chapter 25 of Conquest, when you have the final battle with Ryouma. Whole scenario involves what might have happened if you didn't get there in the '25 turn time limit'.
> 
> I kind of had more planned for this, but its 7 Am and I've been up all night. It turned more cold rage and rant-like in the end, but I hope its at least okay??? I've never written sad stuff like this before.

The doors. The doors wouldn't open. Even as fighting went on around him, the sounds of friend and foe alike perishing, it was all that Niles could focus on. His hand left bloody smears (he honestly didn't know if it was his own or someone else's) on the pristine white wood. They still wouldn't open. No matter how much he hit or tugged or pulled.

Lord Leo had told him to run ahead. That he and Effie had it, as they stormed down the red haired ninja with one eye. All they had to do was get him away from the switch long enough, see if they could throw it so Niles could get in and help Kamui. Blessed sword or not, Kamui couldn't take him down alone. Not when the crown prince of Hoshido was fighting with vengeance and panic in his heart. Not when Kamui refused to kill who he could.

On the other side of the door, Niles could clearly hear the sounds of metal striking metal. They were closer to this side than they were the other. If only the door would open, so he could get inside, notch an arrow and let it fly. Maybe it would give long enough to distract so Kamui could get a shot in. Anything. Mostly Niles just wanted to be with him.

The lock clicked suddenly, startling the thief. Before his mind had even comprehended it, he was already throwing the door open wide enough to slip inside. Hands on his bow, arrow ready and waiting. The air smelled like ozone and crackled with electricity, making his hair stand on in from the pressure. Kamui and Ryouma were in the middle of the large, open space, swords tangled together and blow after blow being exchanged.

Kamui's eye's snapped up for just a moment. He looked wild and confused as his eyes locked with Niles, but that was all it took. That single instant of lapse in concentration. Niles watched in muted horror as Kamui couldn't parry in time, because of _him_. Ryouma's sword slid clean into Kamui's stomach, out the other side. The dragon prince's rusty red eyes were wide with confusion as he started to double over. Ryouma pulled his blade free and Kamui was pushed back, landing hard on the ground. The crown prince shook his blade and a few drops of scarlet dribbled to the floor.

Eyes were upon him. Vaguely, somewhere, Niles knew the door was locked again. He knew that Ryouma had assessed him as a threat and had raised his blade to fight him. All Niles had was tunnel vision, though, all he could see was his pristine white husband stained red. Everything seemed too bright and his head spun. He had seen men laying in puddle of their own blood before, had caused it, but never someone he loved.

Niles' weapon was dropped from his shaky fingers and tears started to spill from his one good eye. Shaky steps were taken forward. The Hoshidan was yelling. Niles didn't process what. He only knew that he needed to be with Kamui.

The world spun as Niles made his way to him. Maybe killing an unarmed man was against some Hoshidan way, the thief didn't care, but he would be surrpised later on that the prince hadn't sliced his head off when he had the chance. He kneeled down heavy next to Kamui, feeling the blood on the ground soak his pants but at the same time not caring. He leaned over his husband and let out a choked sob.

Kamui was still alive, faintly, but Niles held no hope for him. Already his prince was starting to grow cold to the touch and the light fade from his eyes. His breathing was faint, ragged and wet. With each rasp of breath more blood poured from Kamui's lips and down his chin and cheeks.

Niles kissed him, he kissed him and held him and didn't stop until Kamui sighed one last time against him. The taste of copper was heavy on his tongue when he pulled away. Gently he stroked Kamui's cheek before sliding his husband's eyes closed for the final time. He felt empty inside.

All Niles could think about was Kamui. Fond memories of their awkward courting, of the small but meaningful wedding they had shared, of how surprised he had been when Kamui had dragged home two infants for them to care for. It always came back to one memory, of them laying under the starlight and pressed together. Kamui had pressed his lips to Niles' heated skin and whispered a soft promise that had made Niles weak even though he knew it shouldn't. From Kamui, he knew he could trust it and it would be true. It was what had made him fall in love with him.

"You said you would never leave me." His throat clenched and hurt, voice raw. Niles wasn't speaking to the Kamui who was dead in his arms, not really, but the memory of him from that night. "You promised, Kamui." His pain was turning to anger. He had been lied to. Kamui had said forever and hadn't provided. Kamui had been taken away from him before he could made good on it.

Niles stood up on shaky legs and addressed the Hoshidan who had stepped away, averted his gaze from the intimate scene between lovers. Every fiber of him knew it was a bad idea but he didn't care. He felt a deep ache in his chest that he had only felt once before, when his 'family' abandoned him and he had begged Leo for death. The only problem was that this pain was infinitely worse, because instead of betrayal and hopelessness he now felt pure anguish and loss. Kamui wasn't someone who he thought cared for him but tossed him aside like a broken trinket. Kamui had loved Niles with all his heart, just as Niles had loved him, and that love had been stolen from him. Stolen by the man in front of him.

"You killed him! You murderer! You... you killed your own brother!" The cool and calm he had tried to perfect over the years was falling away, leaving behind what felt like an open and infected wound. He hadn't acted like this, acted on emotion and thrown a tantrum since he was a very small child going hungry on the streets. "You killed him! You killed my husband! You killed the only person who ever loved me! You killed him! You're a monster, a monster worse than I ever thought I could be!" Some of his words were lost on the Hoshidan, but that didn't make them any less potent. As Niles staggered towards him, crying like the broken man he was, Ryouma flinched and felt the shame and guilt in him grow.

"I only did what was needed for me and my people!" Ryouma tried to keep his voice strong, but it didn't carry the same command as it always did. He hadn't wanted to kill Kamui, he really hadn't, but it was the only way he saw to preserve peace. Niles still drew closer, soaked in Kamui's blood. His anger had not subsided.

"What next, will you kill me too? Will you-" Niles cut himself off, face twisting as he thought of the two babies swaddled back at the between castle. Left with Flora and Felicia, whom Kamui trusted more than anyone to care for their daughters. He snarled. "Will you take _both_ of the parents from your own _nieces ___?" His voice nothing more than a disgusted hiss. He stopped, for a moment, and looked at his hands. Thinking of his children had quelled some of the fire in him. A bout of fresh tears spilled from him and he wobbled.

"The-the little one, Sakura, Kamui let her know them and play with them every day. He said it was _important_ for Nina and Kana to know their aunt when the war was over, and they could let her go. She never talked to us, but I could see her smiling sometimes as they grabbed her fingers. When she thought I wasn't looking, but I saw. 

"And the older redhead, with the pegasus, when Kamui _lied_ to King Garon about her death, when he _risked his life to let her escape_ , he told her that someday soon she could hold them too, when this was all over." A dry sob left him before he could continue. Ryouma was silent, contemplative. Niles wanted the prince to feel so low he would never recover. Niles wanted him to hurt like he hurt right now. 

"We looked for hours for the other prince, after he threw himself from the tower. Kamui had all of us out searching for him, but we never found a body. Knowing that insufferable little prick, he's still alive somewhere. Kamui wanted to give him a proper burial so that he wouldn't be mutilated as a war trophy." 

"But most of all, he wanted to find a way to spare _you_ while still getting to that white throne you're guarding. Because Kamui was _staging a coup_ so that Prince Xander could take the throne and end this war. He wanted you all alive so you could rule Hoshido in peace with Nohr. And you killed him. You killed the only hope we have. You killed my husband. 

"I hope you're proud of yourself, prince, because you're a monster." 

Ryouma's hands shook as he took in what Niles was saying. His siblings, all most likely alive. Kamui was trying to take down King Garon from the inside out. He had done to his nieces, nieces he didn't know existed until a few minutes ago, exactly what had been done to his own father. Ryouma had no reason to believe that whatever Niles said was true, not really. Something in the way that Niles had cried over Kamui's body, how he was holding himself like a man damned right now, spoke more than anything right now. This one eyed man who before him who had loved Kamui wasn't lying. There was too much raw pain and honesty there to deny. 

The sounds of battle raged around them, but was slowly quieting down. Who won, Niles didn't care to know. He moved back to Kamui's body, curling around it carefully as if to protect him. Niles watched with a silent rage and satisfaction as Ryouma unsheathed his sword and pointed it at himself. 

**Author's Note:**

> I REALLY WANTED SOME SADNESS O K A Y
> 
> I also wanted to try and write a scenario in which I could break my take on Niles. I love him, I swear I do, but that doesn't mean I'm not a cruel hearted b i t c h. My poor sinner has been through enough and yet I do this to him. I really should be shot.
> 
> Also, just an FYI, I am of the headcanon that the war efforts, no matter which path you choose, have to take at LEAST a few years before they end. There just isn't any way you can move horses and men and supplies over mountains and the large maps and landscapes it shows in the games in just a few days, or even months! Plus the time taken out for battles, then recovery from battles! Its just a big hell-storm, pretty much.


End file.
